....................I worked with an Iranian guy in IT and he was as educated and sophisticated as they come (got out before the Ayatollahs revolution). I'm hoping many still there are the same and just want things to return to "normal". Am I clutching at straws? The other question I have is do the Persians have any gripe with the Jews directly? Arabs see Palestine as Holy land but do the Persians? Do the Malaysians or Indonesians for that matter? They're all Muslim nations but have no direct link with the disputed Holy lands.
Even the most autocratic goverments and/or the most secular beliefs can produce educated and sophisticated people. There were plenty of internationally admired Germans that didn't instantly become muderous swine just because Hitler called his Generals to arms. Regardless of the Guardian Council and whichever President they install, Iran will still manage to produce people that are very human and quite reasonable, and probably care about no more than the amount of food in their fridge and the grades on their children's report cards.
Do Persians have any gripes with Jews? I don't know, but I'd doubt it. Any ill will is going to be based in theological dogma as the massive majority of them would never have met a member of the other country. Those who have are probably far more receptive to accepting people as individuals, and would probably describe the people they meet as educated and sophisticated. You would have to go into the poorer areas lacking education and full of mindless propaganda to find the people brainwashed into bigotry, like you can in every country. Dig deep enough and you'll find tin foil hats, they're appear regardless of race or religion.
The issue here is not the people, its the leaders. The people of Iran don't get to pick their candidates, the Guardian Council do. Consequently all members of Parliament can be vetted and controlled by a group of self appointed religous zealots. There have been popular protests and student uprisings before, all have been suppressed. You have to ask yourself how effectively 'the people' of a country can speak when you have government militia like the Basij roaming around committing thuggery on a grand scale. Yes the people can eventually rise above this, but its going to take more than Iranian posturing. Perhaps the thought of a riots on a scale that overthrew Marcos, Ceausescu, Duvalier and the like, will weigh on Ahmadinejad's mind when he decides how far to push this Nuclear issue. Regardless something major is going to need to happen to get the public so wound up it will repeatedly go up against the militia squads, or to get the militia to disavow the hand that feeds and empowers them.
Edit: On the US presence in the region,
this article looks interesting. Now Yemen are working with the US and it appears Bahrain are hosting a Carrier battle group. Are the Arabs far cosier with the US than they let on? As an ally of Israel the US has always struggled for anything beyond reluctact cooperation (apart from Saudi Arabia), perhaps Israel is no longer on the nose or Iran has made the US good people to be friends with, perhaps even Muslims are sick of al-Qa'ida.
